Escalating persecution of Central Asian migrants in Russia: Reports of detention and torture

In Russia, the persecution of Central Asian migrants is escalating. Police and National Guard officers are detaining foreigners. Some are tortured, warns a Russian lawyer. According to information provided by the Russian press, four suspects of carrying out an attack on a concert hall near Moscow are citizens of Tajikistan.

Valentina Chupik, a lawyer specialising in providing free legal advice to migrants, revealed in a conversation with the Mediazona portal that she received over 2,500 phone calls from foreigners staying in Russia in just two days after the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall.

These reports were largely about unjustified detentions. Chupik reports that migrants are detained by the Russian police and National Guard (Rosgvardiya) officers, and then interrogated by the FSB. Uniformed service officers also unjustifiably enter worker hotels and other places where immigrants from Central Asian countries usually reside. At least 30 people reported that they were tortured during these detentions.

Chupik claims that the authorities detain migrants and keep them outdoors, regardless of the prevailing weather conditions, which are often winter. - We receive reports that they are not allowed to use the toilet and that they spend 24 hours without food, being able to drink water only from the tap in the toilet (without access to vessels), to which they are led only once a day - added the lawyer. Most detentions took place in Moscow, but many of them were also recorded in Yekaterinburg and Petersburg. Complaints mainly came from citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

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Russian migration services have started to intensively check the residence permits of foreigners in the country. According to Chupik, residence permits are being cancelled on a large scale for people who are registered at an address where more than ten people live. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have issued an official appeal to their citizens, advising them to refrain from travelling to Russia.

Source: PAP